Bryan Reaches Quarters at Pub Links

July 16, 2009

NORMAN, Okla. - OU men's golf assistant Phillip Bryan advanced to the round of eight with two victories on Thursday at the 84th U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Okla.

The Mustang, Okla., native survived a seesaw battle over Cameron Peck (Olympia, Wash.), the reigning U.S. Junior Amateur Champion and Texas A&M signee by a final of 2&1 on Thursday afternoon.

Bryan trailed his two opponents on only five of 32 holes on Thursday, as the Sooner product advanced to Friday's quarterfinals with temperatures reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the fourth consecutive day.

Although he was the lower seed in both matches on Thursday, Bryan said the benefit of this being a home event has resulted in his carefree approach.

“As far as pressure goes, not very much at all. I don't play a whole lot anymore. I'm a coach now, so if I go out and play well great, but I don't feel any pressure just because I play here a lot. I have about six, seven buddies who've come out to watch and my family watches. Now in the past few days some people from OU have started coming out. So it's been fun."

Bryan raced to a 2-up lead through two as Peck, the 2008 Rolex Junior Player of the Year, bogeyed his first two holes of the front nine. Peck would fire back with a string of three straight birdies at No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8 for a 1-up lead that he would carry to the back side.

Official Site of the 84th U.S. Amateur Public Links | Match Play Bracket

Bryan would birdie the short par-4 10th to even the match, where it would remain through 13 after both players carded pars at No. 11, No. 12 and the par-5 13th.

A gallery of approximately 20 people cheering on the hometown product was asked to leave the course on No. 13, after inclement weather reached the Norman area. Bryan subsequently bogeyed the par-4 14th and dropped to 1-down. The two would finish their match without any interruption from the weather, although play was suspended with two matches remaining on the course at 5:01 p.m. (CDT) for an immediate dangerous situation with thunderstorms in the local area.

Competing in his third USAPL (2006, 2007, 2009), Bryan would square the match with a par at the 281-yard, par-3 15th and take his first lead since the sixth hole with a birdie at No. 16. Bryan sealed the win on a course he estimates to have played almost 400 times with a par on the par-4 17th as Peck made five.

Oklahoma junior-to-be Liam Logan fell to third-seeded Jace Long of Dixon, Mo., in 20 holes in Thursday's morning matches.

Playing extra holes for the second consecutive day after a 20-hole triumph on Wednesday, Logan couldn't reenact the late rally from a day prior. The Fort Worth, Texas, native trailed by as many as three on the front nine, but a birdie at the lengthy 505-yard, par-4 eighth hole and a par at No. 12 cut Dixon's advantage to one. The duo would par the next four holes before Logan made par at No. 17, squaring the match for the first time since No. 1. After both player's made five at the par-5 closing hole, Dixon salvaged a par at the par-4 first hole for the 1-up victory.

Bryan, the highest seed left in the top half of the bracket at No. 28, opened the day with a 3&2 victory over No. 5 seed Gene Webster Jr., of San Bernardino, Calif. The Sooner assistant squared the match with a birdie at the par-4 third hole and never trailed again, upping his commanding lead to 4-up on two separate occasions.

Webster cut Bryan's lead in half with pars at No. 11 and No. 12, but Bryan countered with a birdie at the par-5 13th and a par at No. 14, making the match dormie with four holes remaining. Webster would win the par-3 15th, but a par by both players at No. 16 sent Webster packing and Bryan to the round of 16.

Bryan's quarterfinals opponent on Friday is Sam Lyons of Myrtle Beach, S.C. Lyons prevented a Bedlam showdown with a 1-up victory over OSU's Rickie Fowler, sealing the win with a 20-foot birdie make at the par-5 18th. Bryan and Lyons square off at 7:15 a.m. (CDT), from the first tee in the second match of the morning.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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